It’s no secret I love this time of year for a lot of reasons. But perhaps one of the biggest reasons is the food. I like the baking, the roasting, the perfect-fall-day grilling, the simmering soups. (If food were fashion – which, I think, it is – soup would be IN right now.) “But you’re a personal trainer,” you say, “how is it you love food so much?” Food is WHY I’m a personal trainer! My inner chubster had to figure out a way to eat healthy and be fit and still enjoy baking and cooking stuff. Lots of decadent-but-light, hearty-but-healthy, filling-but-nourishing, downright delicious stuff. So now that I’ve set the tone for this post, it’s appropriate that I introduce you to my favorite fall soup recipes…

Now, you’ll notice all but one of these is from the same chef/baker blog and that’s because she’s legit. Everything I’ve ever made from Joy the Baker has turned out glorious, even with me messing with it to make it a little healthier if need be. I pretty much have a cooking crush on this woman. Sprinkles and all (I hate sprinkles but she makes them seem cool).

My other cooking affair is with Eating Well magazine. The hubby and I have probably made about 3,508 recipes out of the publication and maybe didn’t like one of them. Actually, I have made 3,508 recipes because the hubs is one of those home chefs who knows what he’s doing and therefore doesn’t need to follow a recipe to make things taste lovely. They say you marry your opposite and I sure as $#*! did.

So those are the two sources for these soups – which I’m linking to so you can see the original recipes – but note my slight changes to each, below. These changes were a result of one of 3 things:

1. I didn’t have what the recipe called for, so I substituted or just omitted.
2. I wanted to make the recipe healthier/lighter.
3. I love putting jalapeno wine in soups and I happen to have a TON on-hand. I may know the owners or something.

With that, in no particular order because I find each of these equally amazing, I bring you my Fall Soup Recipe Roundup!

Tomato Soup

This is our absolute most-favorite tomato soup. We make it about eight times a year and it’s delicious every time. You can find the original recipe here.

Our variations:

• We  often use fresh tomatoes, instead of canned, if we have them. In the winter we obviously used canned and doing either works terrific.
• We omit the half-and-half.
• We add jalapeno wine with the tomatoes, in step 2.

Creamy Chipotle Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Seriously fall-appropriate. One tip: Do not expect your kids to eat this. I went into it thinking they would both love it as they do the tomato soup, however this is a bit spicy. On the bright side: More for you!

Original recipe here.

Our variations:

• I made this “Chipotle” by adding Chipotle Jalapeno Wine with the chicken stock (about 1/4 cup).
• We didn’t have garam masala nor could I find it at the local grocery store and I was too lazy to go elsewhere, so I subbed it out for 1/2 tbsp. of cayenne pepper and a dash of cinnamon (wingin’ it!).
• We omitted the heavy cream.
• I ate mine with crumbled goat cheese on top because I’ll use any excuse to eat goat cheese.

Carrot Jalapeno Soup

 

This one really surprised us. It’s fantastic! Joy the Baker titles it “Vegan Carrot Jalapeno Soup” but with my variation I couldn’t justifiably call it vegan. Plus I don’t care. If you do, follow her recipe to the letter here.

Our variation:

• Instead of jalapenos, we added about 1/2 cup of Chipotle Jalapeno Wine at the end when pureeing. You could also do this at Step 3 along with the chicken stock to make sure the alcohol is cooked out.
• Again, I ate mine with goat cheese. Any excuse, like I said.

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

I mentioned how the carrot soup surprised us? This one blew my expectations away. I can’t wait to make it again. There were a lot of things we didn’t have, see what I subbed out below, and it was still delicious. Joy the Baker’s original recipe (here) called for cumin so I’m looking forward to using that next time.

Our variations:

• We omitted cumin seeds and curry powder and used celery seed instead (1/2 to 1 tsp).
• I decided to use black pepper instead of crushed red pepper flakes so our kids could eat it.
• We only had 1/2 onion instead of a whole one.
• We combined 3 1/2 cups chicken stock and 1/2 cup Mild Jalapeno Wine.

Devour and enjoy!